


Puzzling marks

by Eacides (orphan_account)



Series: Yakulev week [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2163207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Eacides
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They said that the marks you get on your skin at birth, so vivid in colors and deep in their meaning; could represent a person so well you’d recognize them right away. <br/>It was something to cherish, to be proud of, as much as the actual person it represented.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puzzling marks

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of Yakulev week : alternate universe.

They said that the marks you get on your skin at birth, so vivid in colors and deep in their meaning; could represent a person so well you’d recognize them right away.   
It was something to cherish, to be proud of, as much as the actual person it represented.  
In theory, at least.

\----------------------------------

For Lev, it had only brought a sense of puzzlement, as funny as it was in front of the jigsaw piece on his ribcage. Who could that represent ?   
Since he was little, he had name it his “little mystery” trying to find out why someone would be represented as a puzzle piece, something that wasn’t whole, something that didn’t meant anything until it was paired with other pieces to form a picture. Something that couldn’t stand on his own, that couldn’t mean anything alone.

He got teased a lot after that, more than because of his white hair, of his being a head taller than everyone.  
Other people got words, animals or something unbelievably easy to recognize, a strong characteristic of their loved on, and of course it would be the foreigner that got something weird.   
People teased him, saying that he was so foreign even he couldn’t get something to identify his soul-mate properly. That maybe, he wasn’t worth one, because no one would want a tall Russian boy, even if he was born and raised in Japan, like everyone else.  
That he did not fit anywhere, like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle that went in pair with his always cheerful ways, always standing out in the crowd. 

He had run a lot to his parents countless times always disappointed, always so sad that something so beautiful as a mark of someone else could bring so many mean comments, mean so little because it didn’t say outright what the person was or didn’t represent a valuable trait like an animal or a word could do; because for him, this little bright jigsaw piece was something utterly different.   
Maybe it meant that this someone didn’t stand out in the crowd like he did and thus would complement him well. Maybe it was just a way to tell him another time that he wasn’t complete without his other half, someone that was made for him as he was made for this person alone.   
It was a piece of his own heart that stood his own in front of his heart, inside of it, from his childhood to his death, like a puzzle that could only be completed if the person was standing in front him, beside him.

And Lev spent years, trying to figure out who could it be. Trying to gain attention of everyone by standing out more, his height helping him out somehow; but he truly thought, at only 15, that maybe, the jigsaw puzzle on his ribcage meant that he was made to be alone. Like this incomplete puzzle, standing bright and high in the crowd, without being able to make a whole picture, being meaningless without someone standing beside him.   
But the day he entered the volley ball team at his new high school, expecting to stand out too much, to be laughed at if they saw his weird mark; Lev realized that maybe, just maybe, the jigsaw piece standing alone could mean more than the whole picture.  
When he first saw Yaku, he had been captivated. Later, when both of them talked about the situation, he would recognize the feeling as meeting his soul mate. Someone that was made for him as much as he was made for them. 

But at the moment, he only saw someone that if they didn’t stand out as much as he did, he was truly a part of something, part of a team that could only be made whole thanks to him. It was in the way everyone counted on him, trusted him without a second thought to be behind their back, saving every ball that could make them lose a point.   
It was in the way he congratulated everyone, even the new members of their good work, on them being on the team like he welcomed his own family.  
It was in the way Yaku eyes screamed recognition as he met Lev’s gaze, as his hand shook slightly and a small laugh escaped his lips. How it made him stand out in the crowd, all eyes fixed on him in question, but always accepting whatever could happen because Yaku was truly a part of something bigger than just Lev.   
Meaning than no matter how much Lev stood out in the crowd, a head and more taller than everyone, Yaku would always be beside him in a steady post, never missing despite whatever distance would grow between them.   
And more importantly, how, when he met Yaku for the first time, his life seemed to be in place, complete and calm. Like the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle that was Yaku’s identity flew from his ribcage to the other boy opened hands, forming something that made Lev heart miss a beat, eyes widening in surprise, but a big smile on his lips, always cheerful and finally accepting that yes, someone was behind that mark.

\-----------------------------

The majestic face of a while lion that adorned Yaku’s collarbone was always a source of pride for him. Knowing that someone as fierce and rare as a white lion was deemed a perfect match for himself was very prideful. When he was little, he had imagined knights and samurais clad in white wearing the same brand as him as a banner, like they would protect and fight for him until their death.  
It was a powerful trait that he always wanted to match, especially when other children his age, always growing taller and stronger than him would mock him. But he never relented, his pride and joy always slightly visible on his collar bone, like a warden and catalyst for Yaku’s own strength, him always trying to beat them, to be stronger and more reliable in his own way so that his lack of height wouldn’t matter to anyone. 

But the thing with having such powerful animals as soul-mate mark, is that people tended to tell him how this person would be, leaving no way for improvement or change, because “Yaku, the lion already tells you everything there is to know about your soul-mate”.   
Powerful, fierce, but maybe violent and lazy as all documentaries showed the lions in their natural habitat; that ultimately, he would be disappointed. He had not met the person and yet, people often tried to tell him his or her downsides, only based on a pretty and intricate mark way whiter than he ever thought possible.   
How could he be disappointed by someone that wore him the same way on his skin, that could only bring him joy and wonder ? A person that would probably be so beautiful everyone but Yaku would be blinded because lions were also a mark of royalty, of beauty.  
He was maybe not as fierce and powerful as this lion, but he could stand his ground, defending a still imaginary person as someone would defend their most precious loved one. It was maybe that, being a soul mate after all, Yaku thought. Being so in touch, so perfect for someone else that you couldn’t dream not to love them already. 

When his classmates and other friends heard the first time about Lev, tall and always cheerful Lev, they laughed at his face, and at Lev’s. “A lion, him ?” they had said, mockery written all over them. But Yaku had only turned away, simmering anger laced with pride all the same.

Lev wasn’t yet the proud lion he had always seen on his skin that was for sure. He was this cheerful yet awkward cub, always looking out for his long limbs and trying hard to impress everyone because he knew his faults despite his own pride.  
But if they said that about him, they hadn’t seen him as Yaku did.   
Lev could already be the fierce and rare lion he would be in a few years, when a concentrated frown would mare his face and how his muscles flexed under his skin before a match, like a predator on the move for his next prey, eyes flicking rapidly on the court, trying to see where the ball, where himself would go after it.   
It was in the way he took pride in being a part of the team, not like he owned it but like he truly belonged in it, like a proud old lion looking at his own pride family, but yet as the newborn cub always looking out for the elder members and their affection.   
But it was also in his laziness marred with willingness to improve; lying on the ground, tired and unwilling to move until someone forced him up with some more training or praised him a little, preening under it and moving again like nothing happened. 

It was in the way he would smirk, so dangerous and so focused when he would score past the blocker’s wall, as if nothing would stand between them and victory thanks to him.  
But when Yaku walked in front of him, seeing Lev so suddenly shy but so happy at the same time like himself probably looked, joy and pride of meeting their one written all over their faces despite the public place; he could only smile because yes, Lev was only a cub for the moment. A fierce and powerful white cub that would grow to the imagery on his branded skin with time.   
Later on, when Lev would see his mark for the first time, he would laugh very brightly but whisper that “Lev”, in Russia and their white and cold land, means “lion”; Yaku could only bring him down and kiss him deeply for the first time.


End file.
